“I was quite proud that I managed to achieve my GCSEs while studying on the night buses. At the time I saw myself as an intrepid explorer taking each day as it came with ninja-like agility and X-ray vision. These fantasies kept me going, as the reality was that I was a totally forgotten child. I had no stable home; no one to watch my back and make me feel like I wasn’t too crinkled to be allowed in this world. I found all those missing things in squatting. I did watch a few kids give up and move into hostels where they got beaten up. I watched those people turn hurt and angry, becoming the epitome of what rich adults say that poor kids are like.”

Last week squatting became a criminal offence punishable with a £5,000 fine or a six-month prison sentence. But “Rosie”, the pseudonym of a young person from Kids Company, the charity that helps vulnerable children, says squatting might have saved her life

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